City Operations Unit

Andrew Dismore: What is the role and annual funding of the City Operations Unit and what is its relation to London Resilience?

The Mayor: The City Operations Unit areresponsible for the GLA’s work with partners regarding incidents and major events in the city, ensuring that suitable briefing and support is provided to the Mayoralty.
The Unit is currently working on the development of the 24/7/365 situational awareness capability for the capital with the ability to identify, process, analyse and comprehend critical elements of information and turn this into actionable first alert intelligence.
The Unit is responsible for the ongoing development and delivery of the GLA’s response protocols in the event of a major incident, rising-tide scenario and public order events.
The Unit represents the GLA at the London Resilience Forum, the London Resilience Partnership, Strategic Coordinating Groups and manages the day-to-day operational relationship between the GLA and London Resilience Group.
The Unit is also responsible for the development of pan-London key agency coordination plans for the delivery of major events and state ceremonials/occasions where there is likely to be a high impact on business as usual, the transport network and/or other disruption to the capital.
The 2019/20 budget for the City Operations Unit is £500k, however, some staffing costs are held in External Affairs for historical reasons. This will be addressed in time for the 2019-20 budget process.

Fibre Broadband Access

Tony Devenish: Do you think it is acceptable that Trevor Street and Trevor Square do not have access to fibre broadband unless individual residents pay £3000 for installation and a further £3000 per year rental? If not what do you plan to do to address the situation?

The Mayor: At present, Ofcom’s Connected Nations data shows that full fibre coverage in London is around 11 per cent. From our work with network operators we know that there is investment in full fibre happening in pockets of London but typically providers may target the same commercially attractive areas first for maximum returns, leaving other areas poorly served.
Since 2016 there has been a step-change in our approach at City Hall. The Connected London team, established in Autumn 2017, now works with London’s 32 local authorities helping better co-ordination with digital infrastructure providers to enable direct investment into fibre and mobile infrastructure in underserved areas in London. Work to mobilise the Transport for London underground assets for a city-wide fibre spine is progressing and we have made a series of significant investments to maximise the impact of the TfL Connected London network through with boroughs across London.
Residents and businesses may be eligible for funding through the government’s Gigabit Voucher Scheme. More information can be found athttps://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/

Airspace and Future Operations Consultation (1)

Caroline Pidgeon: Do you agree that the recent Heathrow consultation was too complex for most residents to be able to understand and respond to and that deciding which flight path envelope to choose was almost impossible given the data provided in the consultation. Also at no point when responding to the consultation was it possible to register overall conclusions or to make simple points due to the constraints of the format. Is this acceptable and do you agree that this does not meet the CAA’s consultation requirement “stakeholders reading the consultation – including those with no technical expertise– can understand the potential impact of the proposed changes on them, and any technical information is as far as possible explained in terms that they can understand”?

The Mayor: I question the value of a consultation on flightpaths‎ three years in advance of any actual flightpath options being published. The result was a theoretical and complex exercise which did not constitute meaningful public engagement. City Hall’s response to the consultation raised this concern.

ULEZ

Susan Hall: How much money will is the ULEZ projected to raise each year over the next 5 years?, broken down by year?

The Mayor: London’s toxic air is a public health crisis and I am absolutely determined to tackle it.
The introduction of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) on 8 April 2019 and its expansion to inner London in 2021 is not about making money, but about improving the health and wellbeing of thousands of Londoners. Any money received from the ULEZ, after costs, will be reinvested into improving the transport network and making London’s air cleaner.
ULEZ income is incorporated into the overall Transport for London Business Plan under ‘other operating income’. The table below shows the projected net operating income over the next five years from both the first phase of ULEZ in central London and from the planned expansion to the North and South Circular in 2021.
The net operating income includes both charge and enforcement income and is net of operating costs and other expenses. These figures have been rounded to the nearest million.
ULEZ Net Operating Income (£m)
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23
2023/24
Gross Income
213
120
222
129
80
Operating Costs*
(59)
(37)
(122)
(90)
(79)
Total Net Income
154
83
100
40
2
*Operating costs inclusive of debts that cannot be recovered

Airspace and Future Operations Consultation (2)

Caroline Pidgeon: Using Hampstead and Highgate as an example do you believe it was remiss that the consultation did not provide details on current flight paths, altitude and noise levels in decibels which meant it was impossible to compare with future alternatives? Do you agree that this does not meet the CAA’s earlier consultation requirement that “a clear statement of the current situation is given” as set out in CAA’s proposals for a revised airspace change process in 2016?

The Mayor: Little, if any, information was provided about existing flight paths, altitudes and noise levels which affect residents today. This undermines the ability of local communities to understand the likely impacts relative to today and so meaningfully engage with the consultation. Whether this is contrary to the Civil Aviation Authority’s consultation criteria is for the CAA to determine. However, I question the value of a consultation on flightpaths‎ three years in advance of any actual flightpath options being published. The result was a theoretical and complex exercise which did not constitute meaningful public engagement. City Hall’s response to the consultation raised this concern.

Taxi Delicensing Scheme (12)

Keith Prince: How will the Taxi Delicensing scheme affect the overall composition of the Taxi fleet?

The Mayor: The taxi delicensing scheme is intended to remove polluting Euro 3, 4 and 5 taxis from London’s taxi fleet, which is expected to result in a higher proportion of cleaner taxis in the fleet. The scheme, along with other measures, will play an important part in making London’s taxi fleet cleaner, helping to achieve at least a 65 per cent reduction in harmful taxi NOx emissions by 2025.

Vertical farms

Tony Devenish: Does the GLA have any plans to support vertical farms?

The Mayor: As highlighted in my London Food Strategy and my London Environment Strategy, food growing can form an important part of London’s urban greening fabric, providing social, economic, health and environmental benefits.
The draft London Plan includes policies to make streets and buildings greener, including increasing the extent of green roofs and green walls. Vertical food growing could form part of this and my food policy team will continue to consider the role that vertical food growing can play as they implement the London Food Strategy.